(Illustration: Camille Charbonneau)
NEWS ESSENTIALS
• Canada considers incentives to reduce housing costs — CBC. Canadian Housing Minister Sean Fraser is weighing a wide range of options to ease the country’s housing crisis, the CBC reported Sunday.
• Tesla’s supercomputer could increase market value by $600 billion — Morgan Stanley. Tesla’s Dojo supercomputer could boost the automaker’s market value by nearly $600 billion by boosting adoption of robotsaxis and its software services, Morgan Stanley analysts said.
• Google’s rivals get their day in court at the start of a major US antitrust trial. DuckDuckGo, which has long complained that Google’s tactics have made it too difficult to use its search engine on a mobile phone, will be one of several rivals to the online search giant in a one-of-a-kind antitrust trial that begins Tuesday.
• Canadian energy regulator halts unauthorized work near Trans-Northern gas pipeline. Canada’s energy regulator has restricted all work activities within 15 meters of the main line of the Trans-Northern pipeline, after construction work came dangerously close to the pipeline in Oshawa, Ontario, it said. -he declared on Friday.
• Grocery delivery app Instacart is targeting a valuation of $7.7 billion in its U.S. IPO. Instacart is targeting a $7.73 billion valuation for its New York IPO, the grocery delivery service said, in another step toward a highly anticipated listing.
TRENDS BEFORE OPENING
Futures for Canada’s main stock index edged higher, tracking gold and copper prices, as investors weighed the path forward for interest rates after higher domestic jobs data than expected last week. U.S. stock index futures gained, boosted by Tesla shares, while the U.S. dollar slipped ahead of inflation data later in the week that will provide clues on a possible Reserve decision federal government to pause its interest rate increases. European stocks rose to their highest level in a week, supported by data showing signs of stabilization in the Chinese economy, while the ECB’s policy meeting later in the week remains in focus. The Nikkei gave up initial gains to close lower as a report pointed to the possibility of a premature end to the Bank of Japan’s negative interest rate policy. Oil prices fell after further cuts in Saudi and Russian crude production sent prices to a 10-month high last week.
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HEADLINES TO FOLLOW
• First Quantum Minerals: The company’s Panamanian unit and the workers’ union at its main copper mine in Panama said Saturday they had reached an agreement, averting a planned strike over profit-sharing and wage increases. The workers’ union, Utramipa, had threatened on Thursday to stop work on Saturday, alleging an impasse in negotiations with the directors of Minera Panama, the local unit of the mining company. “Utramipa has reached an agreement in which we have completed the negotiation processes with the company Minera Panama, we have met the corresponding deadlines,” union leader Michael Camacho said early on Saturday in a video sent to Reuters. “There is no strike,” he later said. Cobre Panama, a massive open-pit copper project located in the Panamanian jungle, is First Quantum’s flagship operation and accounts for nearly half of its revenues. It also represents approximately 4% of Panama’s gross domestic product.
• Tantalex Lithium Resources: The junior mining company seeking to produce lithium in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) said on Friday its tailings project has won support from Glencore. The Swiss miner and trader will pay a $5 million installment to Tantalex as part of the marketing deal and has agreed to fund a third of the capital requirements for the DRC project, if it meets its conditions, a Tantalex said in a statement. Glencore has entered into an agreement to commercialize spodumene concentrate, a very pure lithium ore, which will be produced as part of Tantalex’s Manono project in Congo. The deal is contingent on Glencore completing due diligence and its support for Manono helps de-risk the project, Tantalex chief executive Eric Allard said.
• Telesat: The company said it signed a deal with SpaceX to launch its low-orbit (LEO) satellite constellation called Lightspeed starting in 2026, with the aim of providing global broadband service from space by the end of 2027. LEO satellites are 36 times closer to Earth than traditional satellites and therefore take less time to send and receive information, helping to improve and accelerate broadband service, even in remote areas . “This is another big step forward on the road to implementing Lightspeed,” Dan Goldberg, Telesat’s chief executive, told Reuters. No value has been communicated for this contract, which covers 14 launches. Each Falcon 9 rocket will carry up to 18 satellites into orbit, allowing the constellation to be deployed by the end of 2027, when Telesat plans to provide global service, the company said.
• Vermilion Energy: The company said current quarter production was at the upper end of its guidance after restarting production at its projects in Australia and Ireland. The company has completed final inspection and repair work at its Wandoo project in Australia and plans to produce 4,000 barrels of oil per day in the fourth quarter there, according to a statement. Vermilion expects to generate more than $100 million in free cash flow from Australia in 2024, driven by Wandoo’s crude oil, which sells at a premium to benchmark Brent crude.
